The US military commander in Iraq has stepped up accusations that Iran was stoking violence in Iraq and said Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad was a member of the Revolutionary Guards Qods force.
Washington accuses the force, the elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, of inciting bloodshed in Iraq and of training and equipping militias who have attacked US troops.
General David Petraeus, speaking at a US military base about 30 km (20 miles) from the Iranian border on Saturday, said Iran was giving advanced weaponry to militias in Iraq.
"They are responsible for providing the weapons, the training, the funding and in some cases the direction for operations that have indeed killed US soldiers," Petraeus told a small group of reporters when asked if the Iranian government was responsible for killing US troops. "There is no question about the connection between Iran and these components, (the) attacks that have killed our soldiers." Iran dismissed Petraeus's comments as "baseless".
In August President George W. Bush, already at odds with Iran over its nuclear programme, said attacks on US troops with Iranian-supplied weapons were increasing and he had told commanders in Iraq to "confront Tehran's murderous activities". Petraeus said Iran was supplying advanced rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-fired "Stinger-like" air defence missiles, components to make EFPs and 240 mm rockets to militias in Iraq.
Eight people were killed in three separate bombings in Baghdad on Sunday. The joint commission will put forward proposals which aim to ensure that security firms guarding US officials "do not endanger public safety", the embassy statement said.
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